Project Initiation — part 2
In this, we will see about the key components of project initiation
Goals: the goal is what you’ve been asked to do and what you’re trying to achieve. All projects should have clear goals and often those will be determined by senior company leaders, with your help.
Scope: Process of defining the work that needs to happen to complete the project whether it is in-scope or out of scope, use scope as a boundary — what should or shouldn’t be included in the project.
Project Deliverables: Tools/products/services/documentation we are going to create for end customers, clients, or say for project sponsors, the focus is not just on the end customers but also the stakeholders or project sponsors who are interested in and affected by it, it can be tangible or intangible.
Success criteria: In this, we determine how successful the project was and whether the meaning of success aligns with the people involved in and affected by i.e., stakeholders.
Stakeholders: They’re the people who both have an interest in and are affected by the completion and success of a project. As a result, they’re often instrumental in determining the goals, objectives, deliverables, and success criteria of the project, from coming up with the idea to outlining the expectations of its results. As you move through the initiation phase, it’s your job to ensure that you understand the needs of the project stakeholders early on.
It’s also your role to ensure that all stakeholders agree on the goals and overall mission of the project before moving on to the next phase
Resources: Disposable items that we have, like, budget, people, materials. Once we have defined all the key components we define the project charter
What is a project charter?
The project charter clearly defines the key components to be organized and structured to accomplish the goal.
Once the project charter is documented, it should be reviewed and approved by key stakeholders to move into the planning phase.
Example: As I am the youngest member of the family, my family decided to assign the task of organizing my nephew's first birthday party.
(I know as an Indian it can be very hard :P, but that's the challenge)
Let's define the key components here ( I am so excited)
- Goal: Organize a birthday party so all the family members can come together and express their gratitude and wishes to the nephew.
- Stakeholders: I discussed with key stakeholders, which in this case are my father, my brother, and my sister-in-law to understand the objective and expectations which were like i.e., a special cake, decoration of the house, setting up a venue for attendees, setup music, food menu, a nondisturbing space for sister in law and nephew to rest in between.
- Scope: After understanding the needs of the stakeholders, I started researching venues, and vendors to understand the sense of cost and logistics needed to define what should or shouldn’t be included in the project.
Since this is a family party, a request to provide space for smoking becomes out of the scope of the project and shouldn’t be included. - Resources: Budget assigned for a party, people: my father and brother (as per their availability), and materials: lighting, decoration material we already have.
- Project Deliverables: cake, meal service, music, venue, decoration, nondisturbing space for sister-in-law and nephew to rest in between
- Success criteria: A successful birthday party without any chaos or delays.
